Cases, Rulings, Regulations

This PodCast covers tax issues relating to mail the IRS sends to the wrong address, mail that never makes it to the taxpayer, or mail that arrives late.  Much of the information that taxpayers need to deal with their tax obligation arrives via the U.S. mail.   While we've previously considered what happens when the taxpayer attempts to send documents to the IRS that the IRS claims never arrived, this PodCast considers a case and a letter ruling involving mail that was sent to an address the taxpayer did not currently live at when the mail arrived.Since those of us who do compliance work now have a real need to relax, the podcast also has a brief off-topic discussion of an additional internet audio option--internet radio with discussions about four different stations.The materials for this podcast can be found athttp://edzollars.com/2006-04-22_Lost_in_Transit.pdf This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, b

This PodCast deals with the "Unforseen Circumstance" exception that qualifies a taxpayer for early use of Section 121's gain exclusion at a reduced level.  Can adopting a child, an apparently voluntary endeavor, qualify as an unforseen circumstance for purposes of obtaining an early exclusion of gain from the sale of a home under Section 121?  A taxpayer asked that question of the IRS and received a favorable response.  The letter ruling, which of course applies only to this taxpayer, is useful in helping us determine where the IRS may see the boundaries of an "unforseen" circumstance. We look at Letter Ruling 200613009 's specific facts, noting that many factors were considered than just the fact the taxpayers decided to adopt a child. So the ruling does not support the conclusion that all adoptions will trigger the ability to make early use of a reduced 121 exclusion.The materials for the podcast can be found at http://edzollars.com/2006-04-15_Adoption.pdf.  This Podcast is sponsore

This PodCast uses the case of Benson v. Commissioner, TC Memorandum 2006-55, to examine the issue of what constitutes adequate disclosure under Section 6501(e)(1)(A)(ii) for purposes of avoiding the otherwise mechanical application of an extended six year statute on substantial underpayments.  In this case, which the taxpayer ends up losing, the Court considers to what extent disclosures on other returns can "make up" for items not disclosed directly on the individual return.The text file for this podcast can be downloaded from http://www.edzollars.com/2006-04-08_Adequate_Disclosure.pdf. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This PodCast focues on the exclusion for personal injuries under Section 104 , as well as the nature of a reasonable cause for purposes of escaping the imposition of a penalty.  We use the case of Goode v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2006-48, to illustrate these issues.  As well, we look at another attempt at getting reasonable cause to take a position--ask the President (as in George W. Bush), or at least have someone else do it and then claim to rely on the answer received when the question is delegated to an individual at the IRS.  This was the attempt of the taxpayer in Smith v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2006-51.The materials can be downloaded from http://edzollars.com/2006-04-01_Injury.pdf. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This Podcast covers Investor-Initiated Life Insurance, a/k/a Stranger-Owned Life Insurance and the recent Opinion of the General Counsel of the New York State Insurance Department.For reprints of several articles on this topic, drop Steve Leimberg a note: steve@leimbergservices.com This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This Podcast focuses on the issues and limitations involving the Cohan rule and its use in tax compliance and representation work. The materials can be downloaded from http://edzollars.com/2006-03-25_Cohan.pdf. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This PodCast covers issues involving payroll tax deposits, including the IRS and Social Security Administration recent caution about the use of payroll services to deposit taxes. This week we look at a case that invovled the embezzlement of payroll tax deposits by a payroll service, where the IRS successfully argued that the employer still was liable for the unpaid taxes even though they had believed the payroll service had deposited the taxes As well, we look at a case involving a shareholder who stumbled into a full trust fund penalty when he attempted to take back funds he had advanced the failing corporation when he discovered there were unpaid payroll taxes. The materials for the podcast can be downloaded at http://edzollars.com/2006-03-18_Payroll.pdf. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This PodCast examines the definition of a "qualified personal service corporation" and, perhaps more importantly, distinguishes a PSC from what is not. The podcast looks at the recent case of Ron Lykins, Inc. v. Commissioner, TC Memorandum 2006-35, where a corporation was held not to be a QPSC, and so could benefit from the lower tax brackets available to non-PSCs. Materials for the podcast can be downloaded from http://www.edzollars.com/2006-03-10_Getting_Personal.pdf . This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This week's podcast pertains to the potential overuse of Circular 230 disclaimers.  It arose from a discussion that began on the California Society of CPAs TaxTalk group on Yahoo about the widespread use of Circular 230 disclaimers. There seems to be an unfortunately false belief among many in the professions involved that a standard disclaimer eliminates any and all issues related to the revisions last summer to Circular 230. The podcast discusses both the issues outside of Circular 230 that can arise from the indiscriminate use of this disclaimer, as well as those cases under the covered opinion rules when the disclaimer does not absolve the professional from having to issue a covered opinion. The materials can be found at this link: http://edzollars.com/2006-03-03_Disclaimers.pdf We also discuss briefly some technology matters, including a quick discussion of why it may be useful to listen to Steve Gibson's Security Now podcast. To check out what's available go to: http://grc.com/securityno

This PodCast concerns issues surrounding what are medical expenses for various tax purposes, as well as a case where the taxpayer successfully defended hiring her spouse as employee, and then covered him under a medical reimbursement plan. The materials for this week's podcast are at this link. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This Podcast considers issues and methods of tax research. Ed Zollars deals with research issues that arise in a tax practice. The materials are found at this link. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This Podcast covers charitable remainder trusts in light of the IRS granting relief from an issue they first seemed to have discovered last year regarding the potential state law granted right of a surviving spouse to claim a share of a CRT upon the death of the creator of the trust. The program discusses CRTs in general, including a discussion of which clients a CRT might or might not be appropriate for. We then look at the problem that a spouse's right to elect a share of the trust created, the IRS's initial response and then their recent reconsideration of that response. The materials can be downloaded here.  Be sure to log into LISI's Charitable Planning Newsletter for more detail on this most important topic.   This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This week our Podcast considers the Tax Court's application of the charitable documentation regulations to two real world cases. In the case of Kendrix v. Commissioner a former IRS CID employee and Revenue Officer is found to be lacking in the documentation for her many charitable contributions. While there appears to be reason for the court to believe the contributions to be overstated or not made at all, the court actually keeps returning to technical inadequacies in her documentation to actually deny the deductions. The judge even muses that the court may have erred in the past in allowing the use of the Cohan rule to be used when documentation didn't meet the requirements, but ultimately concludes that the issue doesn't have to be dealt with in this case case. That makes this case potentially troubling since that same logic would apply even if there was no question the donation was made. The second case is a Tax Court Summary opinion of Haas v. Commissioner where the court, among other things, get

Congress hates employees--that's a fact of life that a worker learns the hard way in the case of Alley v. Commissioner, (TC Summary Opinion 2006-4) that we discuss this week. Mr. Alley had a "creative" way of getting around the fact that Section 62 does not allow employee business deductions to be taken in computing adjusted gross income. Unfortunately for Mr. Alley, the Tax Court did not appreciate his creativity. The case offers an option to look at the overall structure of where deductions are taken and the controlling provisions, so it useful beyond just the employee business expense context. The supporting materials can be downloaded here. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This podcast discusses simplified employee pensions, including the basic rules that apply to them, and the gotchas that clients tend to run into. The materials are available from this link. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

In what has become an unintended series of podcasts, we deal once again (and hopefully for the final time) with the IRS's revisions to the Schedule D instructions, and the subsequent "clarifications" (some might say abandonment) of those changes that have come out due to the storm of protests. When last we left our story last Sunday, a solution acceptable to most on paper filings had been endorsed by the IRS. However, many questions remained on how efiling was impacted by this. This week we get a revised clarification that apparently will grant relief for efiling. The materials with all the details can be found at this link. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

While highly unofficial at this point, the IRS has begun circulating a "clarification" of the Schedule D issue. This special podcast discusses this e-mail document and what it means for the upcoming tax season. Of special interest is its apparent lack of a solution to the problem for those filing returns via electronic means. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

Ed Zollars closes out the year and gets LISI members ready for the upcoming tax season with a look at the documentation rules for charitable contributions. You can download the materials from http://www.edzollars.com/2005-12-31_Charitable_Documentation.pdf.   This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

We look at the controversy that has arisen about a modification the IRS made to this year's Schedule D instructions. In the 2005 edition of the instructions, the IRS specifically indicates that taxpayers may not enter "See Attached" and reference a schedule of detailed transactions for Schedule D, but rather must fill the details on Schedule D-1. Download the materials prior to listening to the podcast. May you have an enjoyable holiday season. And, remember, tax season is just around the corner... This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com

This week we look at adequate disclosure under Revenue Procedure 2005-75 for purposes of escaping the substantial understatement penalty under Section 6662(a). Download the materials for the podcast from http://www.edzollars.com/Adequate_Disclosure.pdf. This Podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, Inc. at http://www.leimbergservices.com Please visit our software, books, and PowerPoint Presentations site at http://www.leimberg.com